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Talk:Orange Is the New Plaque/@comment-3041875-20161125233611
Overall guys, I didn’t think this episode was as up to scratch as the previous bunch of episodes, but it wasn’t bad by any means. It was mostly saved by Ali, who was the definite star of the episode. Some other characters, like Ben, Justine and Joanna were all decent enough too, but there was a lot lacking this episode. The Good – Ali. She was fantastic throughout, being the star of every scene she was in, even though her husband got the teaser. The teaser provided sufficient enough background for Joey, being dark, and I liked the revelation that the trafficking business was how he made his money (even though that was probably pretty obvious, but I never considered it), but his character still lacks depth (I'll get to that in "the bad" section). I like Joey's threat to Ali of them having sex that night with her unconscious, that was pretty dark, and statements like that at least make Joey somewhat distinct as a character. I also liked how Liz was once a potential target (would be pretty dumb of him targeting so close to home though), then thinking the wrong girl was the one she made friends with (even though it shouldn’t have been hard to put together, since Jennifer said "Goldilocks" when he answered the door, she was the one Ali helped in the teaser and Ali's confidence has been growing since about the same time Jennifer appeared). I thought he was going to kill the girl though, so there was fairly good tension, and it felt logical that he didn’t kill her, not anti-climactic, which is good. Ali's line about not wanting to lose Ben was very touching, and I always love their scenes and interactions. I really liked Ben then being honest to her about him and Joe knowing, it said a lot about their relationship being that honest, and it was also logical, seeing as how it should be obvious to Ben that it's Joey's business, not Ali's. Then, the ending was excellent, and completely unexpected. Very good story. Joe and Joanna's relationship is okay. I really liked Joanna explaining to Joe what their relationship has meant to her, but it was a bit odd that Joe was so persistent on them talking about what it means, just for it to lead to Joanna's explanation, and leaving us unclear as to why it means so much to Joe, enough to make solving Jose's case an afterthought, when I thought exonerating Tyson was his main motivation. Overall though, this story was good enough. Ben and Justine remain amusing and enjoyable, while Justine is consistently funny, and Ben is (not consistently) charmingly awkward. Sometimes Ben is a bit too gutless that it's irritating, but when it's done right it's done right, such as this episode, and in the coffee shop particularly, which was an amusing scene. I still really like Ben and Joe working together, makes Ben more important, and I enjoy their interaction. It makes sense for Ben's character as to why he'd so readily get involved, and clearly Joe wanted the extra time with Joanna, so it's a logical move also. The Bad – Continuing with my point about Joey, we've seen "what" he's done to get where he is, but still know nothing of "why", and other than being an asshole, I really couldn’t describe him much. It's very disappointing that this is still the case this late in the season, and I believe now that by the time the season is up, this character will still be defined by his mystery, and by nothing else, which will be a big shame. Of course, there is still time to give him more depth, but I'm worried it will be too little too late at this point. Even the flashes, while enjoyable enough to see the overall story, were lacking in regard to any real insight into his character. It would be okay for us to not know anything about who he is if he had a particularly engaging personality, or if there was something exceptionally entertaining about him, but other than the odd harsh statement, there isn't really much there. Also, how exactly does one find human traffickers? There's nothing wrong with flashes over flashbacks, but they shouldn’t be used as a way of avoiding specifics. Rena's story has unfortunately been slow-moving and uninteresting for several episodes now. It started off pretty funny with Justine asking Rena's help to find who Liz is cheating with (though I didn’t care for both his first scenes starting with Justine screaming, "Pig!", and it should be made sure she isn't at risk of getting repetitive and thus grating), and I enjoyed the revelation that Justine was tired of being bossed around and wanted Liz to see how it felt, but it'd have been better if we had an original idea of what Justine thought about her employer, as it's never really been addressed. Rena felling pleasure from Justine standing on him was a nice detail, but it's getting to the point where feeling pleasure over pain and wanting to be an actor is all we really know about this character. I feel like he hasn’t moved or progressed at all as a character we can engage with since this sex story with Liz started, and it's really been detrimental to this character. I'm not sure I liked the ending with Justine finding out Rena is the one Liz is cheating with, after the last episode ended on her finding the cage; we basically waited all episode just for this tiny development, when Justine easily could have made both discoveries together last episode instead, so we wouldn’t have wasted an episode's story, especially when Rena's story has already been moving at snail pace for a while now. Unfortunately, Josh's story mostly felt like an equal waste of time. Brad is still pretty bland, and disappointing that he couldn’t provide an explanation of why he though Josh was innocent, since I can't imagine why he would, since the evidence points to Josh and Brad barely knows him. If we had actually got some dialogue in Josh's first scene of him explaining everything to Brad, rather than just being told he explained everything, then maybe through the emotions Josh would express, we could have got some idea of what he's feeling, and thus know that Brad then too would have gotten that insight. It's a shame that Josh remains the hardest butler to engage with, since we're given such little from him. He may be alone in prison now, no longer outshined by Matthew and Joanna, but he still isn't progressing any plot of his own. At least last episode, he helped Tyson, and acted, revealing something of his character. This episode, it feels like we're back to the usual with Josh, of things just happening around him or to him. Thankfully, there was a nice progression here from Joana paying his bail (though I'd like to point out that bail for murder would be closer to a million dollars, and nowhere near ten thousand), but Josh's whole story this episode basically could have been skipped until that moment. On a separate note from character and plot, I have a couple other issues with this episode. There were a couple missing words, writing errors, and times when interactions were summed up (like in Josh's first scene) when it would have worked much better as dialogue. I only bring this up because your writing is usually so strong, but this felt lower in quality than the other episodes. Additionally, there were a couple OTT moments, like Joanna using wine to wash out her mouth when brushing her teeth or scenes beginning with, "Morning comes, much like Joe and Joanna during the night...", that I didn’t really care for; I have no issue with a little ridiculousness, but not when it pulls me out the story and doesn't add to it. Best Butler – Ben. Though Ali was definitely the best character of the episode, Ben's interactions with her, with Justine and with Joe were all strong, and he continues to push his own plots forward. Joe, too, was quite strong, but I'd have preferred more opening-up in regard to his feelings for Joanna. Overall – A decline in quality compared to the last few episodes, in regard to the writing, the plots and the characterisation, but there was still a lot here I enjoyed, particularly the stories involving Ali, Ben, Joe, Justine and Joanna. I feel like the other characters still need some work to become more defined, and the pacing of Rena's story needs to pick-up, while Josh needs to be making actions himself that directly drive his own story.